Years after Chicago police shot a 19-year-old during a disputed confrontation on the city’s South Side, the agency that investigates police wrongdoing has told the teen’s family it is reopening the case.
Calvin Cross was shot multiple times in 2011 just blocks from his West Pullman home after police allege the teen threatened officers with a gun during a chase.
“They hadn’t been gone more than 10 minutes,” said Cross’ mom Dana Cross. “I heard gun shots. I didn’t think…”
Police at the time said Cross opened fire at pursuing officers and a gun was recovered from the scene.
But family members and their attorney, say they believe the gun was planted on Cross.
“There was a gun that was recovered about 1,000 feet away from where Calvin’s body was found after he was shot and killed,” said Attorney Tony Thedford. “That gun was inoperable.”
Dana Cross said investigators with the Independent Police Review Authority met with her to tell her they were reopening the case in her son’s death, something she and her family have been fighting for for years.
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IPRA could not immediately be reached for comment on the investigation.
Officers involved in the shooting were cleared two years later, but the family says they want criminal charges filed against them.
“It’s murder so, if it was someone else, they’d be doing time,” Dana Cross said.
The family also says they want justice for Cross’ now 5-year-old son, who was born two months after his father was killed.
“It's pretty obvious to a layman that there's something fishy going on here,” Thedford said. “In fact, based on IPRA info we had, they articulated that in their report before they concluded that the officers’ actions were justified.”
The city settled the case for $2 million. The family says that money was put in a trust for his son, Calvin Jr.
Authorities said the case is among those being investigated in a probe of the Chicago Police Department by the Department of Justice.
